Flying Fish Motorsports
Flying Fish Motorsports, commonly just Flying Fish, or FFM, was an Indonesian-based racing team that competed in the F1RWRS for two seasons from 2012 to 2013. The team originally attempted to enter as Project FA1L. At the end of the 2013 season, Flying Fish was closed, with a part of its assets bought and used to form the Mecha Grand Prix team which has competed since 2014. F1RWRS History Creation, and the 2012 Season Established prior to the start of the 2012 season, Flying Fish was formed by Indonesian race driver Resi Respati, who was looking to compete in the rapidly expanding F1RWRS. Purchasing a chassis used by former F1 team Osella, the FA1L, Respati was also able to secure a supply of Ford Cosworth DFV engines (initially a Honda engine was considered when the team was simply called Project FA1L), and together this was widely considered to be one of the least competitive packages in the field. The team ran with just the single car, and consequently struggled over the year, particularly in escaping pre-qualifying. However at the Australian Grand Prix, Respati drove well to finish in 6th place, scoring the team's first ever points. Ultimately however Flying Fish finished 19th of the 20 teams competing that year, with only American Racing Conglomerate below them, who had entered for only the final six races of the year. Consolidation, and the 2013 Season For 2013 the team looked to improve significantly, and along with improving the image of the team, which included shortening the team's name to FFM, a sponsorship agreement was agreed with Autobacs, with additional deals struck with FedEx and Castrol, to become the team's official logistics partner, and fuel and oils supplier respectively. FFM expanded to two entries as well for 2013, and signed Chinese pay-driver Yu Hiang-Hao whilst the Osella chassis was ditched, replaced with Tyrrell 021 design (internally referred as FFM-02, while the Osella-based chassis became internally known as FFM-01), and a new supply of Lamborghini 3512 engines were sourced. The new package proved to be a marked improvement, and whilst the team was plagued with some awful reliability over the year, Respati sealed an excellent podium finish with 3rd place at the British Grand Prix, along with two other points finishes at China and Japan. Hiang-Hao though proved to be less successful, with only a best result of 10th place at the French Grand Prix, but the team's performance was enough to finish 11th of the 21 teams in the field that year and ensure they'd avoid pre-qualifying at the start of the 2014 season, had the team continued to 2014. Plans for 2014, and Demise Plans for 2014 began in earnest for Flying Fish. Prior to the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, Respati announced his retirement from racing to instead move into managing the team full time for 2014. He blamed his focus on driving for preventing the team's slow development, hoping that moving away from the cockpit would allow the team to be better focused in future. In addition, he announced that former Japanese F1 driver Aguri Suzuki had purchased 75% of the team and would become the new team principal, with Respati as managing director. Autobacs committed to another year of sponsorship, and the team would be renamed Flying Fish Motorsports Team Aguri. Continuing the new Japanese flavour in the team, it was intended that a Japanese driver from Suzuki's driver development program would fill the slot vacated by Respati's retirement. Ultimately however, these plans fell through, and with Respati tied up in other operations elsewhere, he announced the team would fold before the start of the 2014 season. A part of the assets from the team's demise however were then purchased by Mahmud Effendi and Chandra Adriansyah, owners of the Mecha Grand Prix team, which continued to operate under the Indonesian banner for the 2014 season. Complete F1RWRS Results * † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance. Category:Teams Category:F1RWRS Teams Category:Defunct teams